Sachin Vaze

Sachin Hindurao Vaze (born 22 February 1972) is a police officer of the Maharashtra Police Force of India. Vaze was an "encounter specialist" with the Mumbai Encounter Squad and was involved with the deaths of as many as 63 alleged criminals. He was suspended for 17 years after being arrested in the custodial death of Khwaja Yunus, but was granted bail and later reinstated in June 2020. He led the Raigad police team to arrest the editor-in-chief of Republic TV, Arnab Goswami. In March 2021, he was arrested in a car bomb scare case in Mumbai. Following his arrest, he was again suspended from police service.

Biography and career

Sachin Vaze is originally from Kolhapur in the Indian state of Maharashtra.

Vaze joined the State Police Service in 1990 as a sub inspector. He was first posted to the terror affected area of Gadchiroli, a Naxal-affected area. In 1992 he was moved to Thane City Police. He gained immediate fame by detecting several big cases. While posted at the Muslim majority Mumbra Police Station, he was instrumental in Hindu Muslim harmony in the area. Rising to higher ranks, he went to head the Special Squad of Thane Crime Branch who started encounters in Thane and thus selected to work at the elite Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU) of the Mumbai Police.

Vaze also dealt with counterfeit currency cases and was instrumental in dealing with cases involving film industry personalities.

Vaze had joined a regional political party Shiv Sena in 2008.

Encounters squad

His career spanned 30 years, during which Vaze became known for the "encounter killings" of 63 alleged criminals. These include notorious gangsters like Munna Nepali.

This squad was formed around 1997 to deal with the growing extortion demands and open violence. The squads soon came to be associated with 'encounters', a euphemism for a situation in which a gangster is cornered, asked to surrender, ostensibly attacks the police or tries to escape, and is shot dead in retaliatory action. After posting in the CIU, Vaze, along with his mentor Pradeep Sharma, was transferred in the Anti Extortion Cell (AE Cell) where the AE Cell recorded its first-ever encounter.

Suspension and reinstatement

On 3 March 2004, Sachin Vaze was suspended along with 14 other policemen on murder charges on the custodial death of Khwaja Yunus, a suspect in the December 2, 2002 Ghatkopar bomb blast case. He subsequently resigned from the police on 30 November 2007 after requests for his reinstatement were rejected by the Maharashtra Government.

On June 6, 2020, his suspension was revoked by the Maharashtra government led by Uddhav Thackeray and was reinstated by Mumbai Police due to a shortage of police staff at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in Maharashtra.

Technology crime

Sachin Waze is also mostly known for his techno and cyber skills. Always seen with modern gadgets and gizmos in his hands and pockets, Vaze is known to have solved many serious cybercrimes. He is also believed to have set up cellphone interception units as well as email tracking units of Mumbai Police. He came in limelight in 1997 when he detected international credit card fraud. This was the first time when a gang of such scamsters was arrested in Asia. Which he then continued in Mumbai too in 2001. Many believe that this quality made the people against Vaze to embroil him in a murder case of a terrorist. After a rising career graph, Vaze resigned in 2007.

Vaze has come out with an innovation mobile app called – MobiCID. In a very short period MobiCID been acknowledged by various sectors in media

Mukesh Ambani bomb scare case

On February 25, 2021, a Scorpio SUV vehicle with fake licence plates filled with gelatin sticks was placed outside industrialist Mukesh Ambani's residence Antilia in Mumbai. The owner of the car, Mansukh Hiren, who had filed a police complaint about the SUV being stolen was later found dead on March 5, 2021,. The leader of opposition of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis demanded the arrest of Sachin Vaze for the alleged murder of Mansukh Hiren. Fadnavis claimed that Mansukh Hiren's wife suspects that Sachin Vaze killed her husband. Fadnavis also claimed that the last known location of Mansukh Hiren's phone was near Shiv Sena leader Dhananjay Gawde's office. Three days before his death, Mansukh Hiren, had written a letter, accusing the police of harassment. He was found dead in a creek near Thane on March 5, 2021.

Vaze applied for interim relief, which was rejected by the Sessions court in Thane. After questioning him for over 12 hours, he was arrested by National Investigation Agency on 13 March for his role and involvement in placing the explosives-laden vehicle near Carmichael Road on February 25. The NIA searched his office and seized documents and electronic devices. They also seized a Mercedes car that was being used by Waze, which contained ₹5 lakh cash, a counting machine and the original licence plates of the Scorpio. An Assistant Police Inspector Riyazuddin Kazi is being investigated who had removed a Digital Video Recorder (DVR) of CCTVs from the housing society in Thane where he lived.

Vaze's supervisor, Param Bir Singh, who had worked closely with him, was removed from his post of Mumbai Police Commissioner. Singh claimed in a detailed letter to the Maharashtra Chief Minister, that Vaze was involved in a scheme to collect ₹100 crore from businesses in Mumbai per month as demanded by the Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh. Deshmukh's office denied the claim and stated that Param Bir Singh made false allegations against him to save himself from legal action. Devendra Fadnavis claimed that Vaze and Param Bir Singh were just pawns in the hands of the current Maha Vikas Aghadi (a coalition of NCP, Shiv Sena and Indian National Congress) state government.

Books, publications, movies

While in service Vaze was instrumental in forming new rules, manuals, directives etc for Maharashtra Police. After resigning from service Vaze participated in television debates, and published articles in newspapers and periodicals. He has also been publishing articles on Cyber Crime issues.

In the Marathi film Rege(2014) one character is inspired and named after him which is played by Pushkar Shrotri.

Vaze is the author of Jinkun Harleli Ladhaai - the Marathi bestseller book on 26/11 Mumbai attacks and also source and advisor of many books projects such as Hussain Zaidi written Headley & I, My Name is Abu Salem, Byculla to Bangkok, Adrian Levy written The Siege.

Vaze has also authored a bestseller book The Scout. The book traces the journey of David Headley, son of a Pakistani aristocrat and an American mother who easily straddled both the Islamic and the western worlds. It is a tale of deception and deceit, of audacity and ingenuity and a detailed account of a man who coldly and systematically conducted a series of reconnaissance missions that perfected the deadliest terrorist attack ever on Indian soil and left some of Mumbai’s signature destinations scarred forever. He has been a researcher, advisor and contributor to various leading newspapers, tv channels as well as online portals.

Vaze has also authored Sheena Bora-the murder that shook India. The book is the first-ever comprehensive account of the gruesome murder that became a national obsession and shook us to the core.

Marathi Facebook

Vaze is also the brain behind and creator of the first social networking portal in Marathi. लई भारी www.laibhaari.com is the Marathi version of Facebook. The portal put on a test run on 4 November 2010 and had a membership figure of 15000+ till formally launched on 21 November 2010.